Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Author: Ann Lamott
Publisher: Anchor
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Cover Description
For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne’s father—also a writer—in the iconic passage that gives the book its title:
“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”
An essential volume for generations of writers young and old, Bird by Bird is a modern classic.
Review
“Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived. Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground—you can still discover new treasures under all those piles, clean things up, edit things out, fix things, get a grip. Tidiness suggests that something is as good as it’s going to get. Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation, while writing needs to breathe and move.”
What can I say about Bird by Bird that hundreds of aspiring writers before me haven’t already said? Anne Lamott tells it like it is, kindly but firmly. She shakes your shoulders a little, smiles warmly, turns you around, and pushes you back toward the thing you want.
The chapter on productivity was particularly poignant for me; it’s only a few pages long, but it nearly made me cry because I felt so seen.
Required reading for anyone who writes — or wants to.